Hoarder mail carrier trapped over 100 cats, dogs stolen from her route in feces-filled Florida house of horrors
A hoarding Florida mail carrier accused of “collecting cats” along her postal route was arrested after deputies discovered more than 100 animals living inside her feces-filled home, where some rooms were buried under a foot of waste, authorities said.Gail Giustino, 77, was busted after detectives armed with a search warrant made the foul-smelling discovery on July 20 inside the cat lady’s house in Stuart, located about 40 miles south of West Palm Beach, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.Sheriff John Budensiek said authorities tried to get inside the uncooperative elderly woman’s home for weeks after someone reported that a postal worker was “stealing or collecting cats” on the job.When those efforts failed, investigators obtained a warrant.Detectives, firefighters and animal control officers wearing hazmat suits entered the musty house and encountered an overpowering stench, sweltering temperatures, no air conditioning or ventilation, and more than 100 animals living in cages and squalor.“The stench was unreal,” Budensiek said.
“The air was stifling hot.Clearly, this is a hoarder scenario, worst case of animal hoarding that I’ve seen here in Martin County.”The pets — roughly 70 cats and the rest dogs — were in “pretty terrible shape,” an animal rescuer told Fox News.“They were really just shut down.
Some of the cats were catatonic; they wouldn’t even move.They were traumatized,” the rescuer added.Since 2014, Giustino’s home has been hit with about 65 citations because of the conditions she kept her animals in, according to police.
“Do we want to arrest a 77-year-old lady? The answer is absolutely not,” Budensiek said.“We truly believe that Gail thinks she’s doing the right thing, but she’s doing it the wrong way.”She was charged with one count each of animal cruelty and confinement of animals without sufficient exercise.
She could have faced up to 160 counts of animal cruelty, the outlet reported....